String Quartet No. 5

For string quartet. Commissioned for the 100th anniversary of the Pro Arte Quartet. "Composed of 10 short movements played with minimal pauses, the piece traveled a wide range of territory while feeling structurally cohesive. There were places where fast, furious melodies moved quickly through the group. Elsewhere pulsating notes seemed marked the unfolding of time while a freer melody floated above in a texture reminiscent of Messiaen. Harbison employed ever-shifting textures throughout, and though the harmony was not diatonic, neither was it aggressively atonal; instead, he convincingly used a shifting harmonic palette to do good expressive work." — Jessica Courtier, Wisconsin State Journal